...No one seems to know how many there are. Passersby are too busy going to and fro their business to contemplate the growth of their ranks. They are the “canchosos” (street dogs) who roam freely...More.

By Dr. Alon Ben-Meir
Artwork by Michael Anderson and Sam Ben-MeirThis is part II of the two-part article
The recent violation of Israel’s air space by an Iranian drone and Israel’s retaliation against Syrian and Iranian targets prompted many observers to suggest that the growing regional tension resulting from such incidents may precipitate a war between Israel and Iran/Hezbollah, and perhaps inadvertently with Syria as well. I disagree with this prognosis. I maintain that none of the players involved want to engage in a war that will inflict tremendous destruction and casualties without realizing any sustainable long-term gains. This, however, does not preclude an accidental war resulting from an unintended incident or miscalculation.

By Alon Ben-MeirThis is part 1 of a two-part article
The recent violation of Israel’s air space by an Iranian drone and Israel’s retaliation against Syrian and Iranian targets prompted many observers to suggest that the growing regional tension resulting from such incidents may precipitate a war between Israel and Iran/Hezbollah, and perhaps inadvertently with Syria as well. I disagree with this prognosis. I maintain that none of the players involved want to engage in a war that will inflict tremendous destruction and casualties without realizing any sustainable long-term gains. This, however, does not preclude an accidental war resulting from an unintended incident or miscalculation.

By Nick Cunningham of Oilprice.com
The U.S. is one of the few areas of the world in which there is an energy investment boom underway, a development that could smooth out the uncertainties of geopolitical events around the world. At the same time, outside of the U.S., there is a deterioration of stability in many oil-producing regions, aggravating risks for both oil companies and the oil market, according to a new report.
Financial risk firm Verisk Maplecroft explores these two trends as they play out simultaneously. The U.S. shale sector has emerged from years of low oil prices, damaged but still intact. Importantly, the shale industry “can ride out price dips and respond quickly to upticks, weakening OPEC in the process,” James Lockhart-Smith, director of financial sector risk at Verisk Maplecroft, wrote in the report. Combined with deregulation at the federal level, the oil industry is in the midst of an investment boom in the U.S.

By Meredith Taylor
Big Oil is due for a disruption.
The world’s most important industry has been carrying on without any significant changes in its day to day routine for far too long.
But now, the new tech on the block has its sights set on the multi-trillion-dollar oil and gas sector.
It’s official: Blockchain technology has infiltrated Big Oil.
The hype behind blockchain has reached a full-blown frenzy. And for good reason.

By Nick Cunningham of Oilprice.com
Oil prices fell back suddenly over the last few trading sessions, dragged down by some forces beyond the oil market.
The steady decline of the U.S. dollar has helped drive up crude prices for weeks, but that came to an abrupt halt last week. A rebound for the greenback led to a steep decline in oil prices on Friday.
At the same time, sudden turmoil in the broader financial system also bled over into the oil market. Volatility in the stock market flared up on Friday, sparking the sharpest single-day upheaval in years.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell more than 600 points, only the ninth time in history that a fall of that magnitude has occurred. “The stock market and interest rates can really affect oil a lot,” Mark Waggoner, president of Excel Futures, told The Wall Street Journal. “It’s spilling over into the energy markets and causing these ripple effects.”

By Nick Cunningham of Oilprice.com
Shale companies continue to drill at a frenzied pace, adding rigs and breaking U.S. oil production levels with each passing week. Yet, the oil production is becoming increasingly geographically concentrated. Not only is the Permian basin accounting for much of the new oil production in the U.S., but a relatively small number of counties within the Permian are home to most of that action.
The drilling craze in the Permian has been going on for some time, but activity continues to pick up pace. The rig count in the Permian has surged over the past year, and jumped by 18 in the most recent week for which data is available, to 427, the highest total for the basin since early 2015.

(BFP)Number 52 of the world, Giraldo had a good debut yesterday against Dudi Sela of Israel, winning 6-2, 6-3. Santiago Giraldo advances at first round of ATP 250 Bangkok. This is the second match against Dudi Sela, the first was in 2010 where the winner was Sela.

Are you headed for a heart attack because of “marginal scurvy”, a condition resulting from a lack of vitamin C? Moreover, if vitamin C is sound medicine for gorillas, why isn’t it good for us? And in the 16th century, why did the ship’s cat survive long sea voyages when its sailors died from scurvy?

Today, we know that sailors of old, lacking vitamin C, died of this preventable disease. A shortage of fresh fruit in their diet resulted in degeneration of blood vessels, hemorrhage and death.

Media servers are becoming popular in this age of wireless home networks, delivering audio and video content from a computer or the Internet to whatever device you may want to use, within reason.

I usually use such devices to stream music, because most of the videos I watch are on Blu-ray and no matter how much hype you hear about downloads taking over, there are still bandwidth and file compatibility issues. I admit reluctantly to accessing YouTube and its ilk for some casual viewing sometimes, but media servers are increasingly playing back music in other rooms of my house.